Apple’s secret garden: the struggle over leaks and security

Employees tell us that leaks aren't coming from inside the house.

Apple engineers love the "big reveal." When a surprising new product they have been toiling over in secrecy finally bursts into public view during an Apple keynote, they enjoy seeing the public reaction. But the public wants its products details early, and it gets them in the form of leaks, rumors, and grainy cell phone shots of dubious authenticity. To the engineers, this is a bit like children who insist of spoiling the fun of opening presents by shaking them, squeezing them, and finally guessing exactly what's within. Increasingly, though, leaked products are the reality even for the famously secretive Apple.

Products have always leaked out of Apple. To the leaker, knowledge is a form of power, and people throughout Apple's massive corporate structure have long showed that power by sharing inside information with friends, family, colleagues, investors, and yes, even reporters. The secrecy builds team trust and camaraderie among product teams, but it also fuels the very situation it was built to stop; by making even basic product specs highly desirable, the company gives disgruntled employees a simple but powerful way to vent their frustration through leaking. (I find that employees are most eager to hand over information when they're displeased.)

Leaks are now so plentiful that it's hard to be too surprised when Apple shows us something new. But why? According to a handful of Apple employees who spoke to us on condition of anonymity, the leaks are simply a byproduct of globalization.

Blame the supply chain

The employees all told us that security at Apple remains as strict—if not slightly stricter—as ever. (Several engineers said that general security practices appear to be tighter now, a year after CEO Tim Cook took over, but "tighter" is a difficult metric to gauge at a place like Apple.) Prototypes have to be carried around on company grounds while covered in a black cloth so other employees can't sneak a peek. Those who take prerelease products off campus are heavily restricted when using them with other people (even other Apple employees) in the vicinity. Internal security teams covertly monitor which IRC channels employees like to hang out in. These practices aren't new, but stories often circulate internally about people being fired or moved to different groups as punishment after secrets get out—even if only to a broader group within Apple.

In the view of these employees, the majority of leaks that now get splashed across the pages of the Apple Rumor Site Du Jour™ in the months before a new product launch don't originate within Apple corporate anymore. Instead, leaks about the iPhone 5, the Retina MacBook Pro, and the (expected) iPad mini came from somewhere within Apple's lengthy global supply chain.

"Clearly, the people who need the security training are not here," said another. "They're not getting the same level of scrutiny as we are, and it shows."

The leaks may be a result of Apple's impressive manufacturing operations—which are largely credited to the expertise of Tim Cook, who built his expertise in operations and supply chain management. The results for users have been impressive: do you want your new iPhone 5 assembled the minute you place the order online and shipped to your home days later, or do you want to wait six months before it arrives? (Complex questions about what the outsourced manufacturing means for workers persist, of course.)

Employees who work at Apple's Cupertino headquarters told us stories of developing team loyalty and project pride, to the point where Apple's secrecy wasn't just a corporate desire but a way to show respect for other employees' hard work. Suppliers overseas don't have that same level of loyalty, or that sense of accomplishment at creating interesting new products.

"You've got thousands of people working on manufacturing something who have no vested interest in keeping it secret," one employee said, adding that he believes leaks will continue to increase as Apple ramps up overseas manufacturing operations. "It will be increasingly hard to hide the industrial design we do because we manufacture things overseas. Since we don't do it in the US, it's may be hard to surprise people over anything in the future."

Among those we spoke with, people who consider themselves to be "troops on the ground" (generally those at the engineering level or below) get quite worked up about product leaks. "One of the great things about Apple secrecy is presenting something to the world, and then someone goes and ruins the fun for everyone," an employee told Ars. "It's really fucking rude to everyone who's worked so hard on it."

Tighten up

Leaks can also make Apple engineers' jobs harder. When secrets get out, Apple tends to react by clamping down harder on the employees it can control—mostly, those in the US—whether or not they were involved in the leak. "They keep tightening up things on us—there are code names upon code names upon code names," one employee said.

He described in particular Apple's system for testing prototypes off-campus in the real world. This program has been in place for many years but has been increasingly scaled back over the last year in order to avoid both accidental "demos" to friends and the infamous lost iPhone 4 prototype scenario.

The employee said that only a handful of people were recently allowed to take a new device off campus to use in real life. "That's really disturbing for something you're about to ship millions of," the employee said, adding that such restrictions have some worried whether they can "test things to the level we want to test them before they ship."

Apple retail has seen things tighten up as well. One person familiar with Apple's retail practices told Ars that stores used to get operating system updates—for both OS X and iOS—almost a week before public release, but that window has been reduced to as little as 12 hours in some cases now. The tight windows make it harder for retail employees to be intimately familiar with what they're about to support, which results in a poorer customer experience.

Ultimately, the Apple employees we spoke to were willing to accept tighter security coming from the top, even when they disagreed that it was beneficial. But they also know that in today's world, where Chinese employees on the manufacturing line have cell phones and access to Internet connections, secrecy will get breached until Apple figures out how to improve security on the other side of the pond. Even then, leaks will never be contained completely.

"I understand why people leak, because everyone wants to feel important and prove that they know things," one employee said. But "all these security measures [on US employees] are really only going to prevent accidents" such as the iPhone 4 prototype loss. "If people want to leak stuff, they'll find a way."

Promoted Comments

Why does Apple wait so long to announce products, instead of announcing weeks or months in advance, like Microsoft and Samsung often do?

Apple understands the power of first impressions.

Products are ultimately designed and sold to humans, who have desires, fears, impulses, irrational behavior. Presenting a new product to someone plays upon those traits, and packaging everything into a single, effective announcement (with the item on sale immediately or very soon) is more effective than parceling out the information over a period of time where interest wanes while the product is not yet available.

It's pretty much Marketing 101, and it's astonishing that many Fortune 50 companies still don't get it, despite the billions their own marketing departments are accountable for.

Edit: This strategy is mostly applicable to consumer products. As pointed out in the previous post, releasing information for complex enterprise products in advance is often necessary because the customer has to make plans to accommodate new features and integration within their existing systems.

A few years ago I worked on a secret new project. As part of the preparations for it, we brought customer services in to train them and someone took a photo of the product on a crappy camera phone and leaked it to one of the tech blogs.

It was gutting because it was a rubbish picture, the finish wasn't final, the device itself was part of a much bigger service (which wasn't mentioned as part of the leak) and the big reveal was completely tainted.

I appreciate that people want to know what is coming early and be drip fed details - but to have 18 months of your work in progress splashed across websites on the internet with people knocking it based on a few scant (and incorrect) details is disappointing.

It's one of those things which if you've not experienced, you probably will never know how the team felt.

Are leaks more plentiful at Apple than any other corporation? Why does Apple wait so long to announce products, instead of announcing weeks or months in advance, like Microsoft and Samsung often do? That's not a criticism, just a question.

Are leaks more plentiful at Apple than any other corporation? Why does Apple wait so long to announce products, instead of announcing weeks or months in advance, like Microsoft and Samsung often do? That's not a criticism, just a question.

Because the perception is - right or wrong - that the competition is panting for product details so they can copy them. The longer you keep the secret, the longer your product is exclusive. You see this in the motion picture industry, where sometimes the cheap knockoff of a film is in theatres before the original.

Microsoft mostly pre-announces so their corporate customers and partners can make long-range plans. Apple has much less pressure to do so, or interest.

Why does Apple wait so long to announce products, instead of announcing weeks or months in advance, like Microsoft and Samsung often do?

Apple understands the power of first impressions.

Products are ultimately designed and sold to humans, who have desires, fears, impulses, irrational behavior. Presenting a new product to someone plays upon those traits, and packaging everything into a single, effective announcement (with the item on sale immediately or very soon) is more effective than parceling out the information over a period of time where interest wanes while the product is not yet available.

It's pretty much Marketing 101, and it's astonishing that many Fortune 50 companies still don't get it, despite the billions their own marketing departments are accountable for.

Edit: This strategy is mostly applicable to consumer products. As pointed out in the previous post, releasing information for complex enterprise products in advance is often necessary because the customer has to make plans to accommodate new features and integration within their existing systems.

Are leaks more plentiful at Apple than any other corporation? Why does Apple wait so long to announce products, instead of announcing weeks or months in advance, like Microsoft and Samsung often do? That's not a criticism, just a question.

In reverse: Why do Microsoft and Samsung feel the need to announce products months before they are ready, or even viable?

I'm happy to hear about a product when it's ready for me to purchase - not be told about something that I can get excited for, that might never ship. The general geek disappointment that resulted in Courier's cancellation should never have happened, because they shouldn't have told us about it until they were sure it would ship. It just reflects badly on the company IMO.

I have to agree (and sympathize) with the employees who work so hard on these products in the design phases - i.e. before mass production. Regardless of everybody's feelings for Apple, surely we'd all agree that it'd be gut wrenching to have toiled so hard on something, only to have the surprise ruined.

It's kinda like working really hard for six months on a kick-ass Christmas present for a loved one, only to have some snotty kid run his mouth and spoil the surprise a few days before the big reveal.

I like to read rumours because they're there to be read, and I'm often bored. However I'm a fan of surprises when it comes to shiny new technology, and I don't get the need people seem to have these days to desperately know what's coming next. Like the 'on next week's show' previews that now run for the entire length of the end credits and basically give away the storyline, it's all getting a bit much.

I don't know, I feel like films and games that do this also prevent reviewers from discovering any flaws that may reduce pre-orders (or in films opening weekend draws). For instance, if a lot of review sites were able to get time with early handsets and let the public know about iOS 6 Map issues, would there be as many pre-orders for the iPhone 5?

I guess its also much harder to keep long term interest in a product as opposed to an announcement and release in a few weeks later. Apple needs to come to terms though that in this day and age leaks will happen and stop oppressing their own workforce.

It's also a matter of Geek pride, notice how many of the iPhone prototype leaks are about engineers who took them out and lost them when they got drunk enough. If you were way too psyched about a product you helped develop and knew how awesome (in relative terms) it is how many of you would be weak enough to take it for a spin and show it for bragging?

Are leaks more plentiful at Apple than any other corporation? Why does Apple wait so long to announce products, instead of announcing weeks or months in advance, like Microsoft and Samsung often do? That's not a criticism, just a question.

Ideally, you want to announce orders/shipping that follows your reveal as soon as possible, so people don't forget about your product by the time it is shipping or get tired of being strung along if you keep reminding them. If you announce something good, people will want to buy it now, not 6 months from now.

So the real question is why do some announce product that won't be available for months? The early announcement (AKA Paper/Vapor Launch) is usually a sign of desperation. The companies doing this are hoping that you will hold off purchasing their competitions products and wait for them.

Modern Classic example: RIM Playbook. Announced many months before it shipped. It made a big splash as they wowed with better HW specs than anyone had, but I pointed out at the time, by the time they shipped those would be commonplace, and they were and when it finally shipped it was one of the biggest tablet flops. RIM hoped that big future promises would get people to wait. It was a desperate ploy that failed. But people keep trying it anyway.

Are leaks more plentiful at Apple than any other corporation? Why does Apple wait so long to announce products, instead of announcing weeks or months in advance, like Microsoft and Samsung often do? That's not a criticism, just a question.

In reverse: Why do Microsoft and Samsung feel the need to announce products months before they are ready, or even viable?

I'm happy to hear about a product when it's ready for me to purchase - not be told about something that I can get excited for, that might never ship. The general geek disappointment that resulted in Courier's cancellation should never have happened, because they shouldn't have told us about it until they were sure it would ship. It just reflects badly on the company IMO.

The employee said that only a handful of people were recently allowed to take a new device off campus to use in real life. "That's really disturbing for something you're about to ship millions of," the employee said, adding that such restrictions have some worried whether they can "test things to the level we want to test them before they ship."

I guess its also much harder to keep long term interest in a product as opposed to an announcement and release in a few weeks later. Apple needs to come to terms though that in this day and age leaks will happen and stop oppressing their own workforce.

Alternately, because I don't know something new/cool is coming out in a month I might buy something else now. There's a subset of people who will buy whatever new Apple product comes out, or whatever the latest Apple product is when they go shopping, but for everyone else "surprise" isn't conducive to comparison shopping.

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Apple could choose to buy parts overseas and do the final assembly in their own plant where they can exert whatever controls they want. Globalization doesn't necessarily mean you have to ship everything overseas.

I understand Apple wanting an aura of secrecy on a corporate level, but individual employees getting bent out of shape because some Chinese worker who makes a fraction of what the security guards and admin assistants in Cupertino do makes a few extra bucks on the side with a grainy photo just sounds petulant and spoiled to me.

Whatever the reason, they have legitmately killed my interest in Apple's announcements.

I'm not sure if you mean the same thing, but I read this and think the "iPhone 4S effect." Before that device was released, it was widely speculated that the new device--assumed to be the iPhone 5--would bring a significant upgrade in both software and hardware, at least matching--and perhaps exceeding!--the then-current Android flagships.

The reality was that the 4S was very much a minor, incremental upgrade, lacking almost all of the rumored features (no larger screen, no new dock connector, no NFC, no LTE, etc.). Absent the hype and "leaks" (real or otherwise), it would've been a respectable mid-life update. Now, rather than being entirely about excitement, Apple's announcements are more about which rumored features aren't in the new product, and I think that's unfortunate.

A few years ago I worked on a secret new project. As part of the preparations for it, we brought customer services in to train them and someone took a photo of the product on a crappy camera phone and leaked it to one of the tech blogs.

It was gutting because it was a rubbish picture, the finish wasn't final, the device itself was part of a much bigger service (which wasn't mentioned as part of the leak) and the big reveal was completely tainted.

I appreciate that people want to know what is coming early and be drip fed details - but to have 18 months of your work in progress splashed across websites on the internet with people knocking it based on a few scant (and incorrect) details is disappointing.

It's one of those things which if you've not experienced, you probably will never know how the team felt.

Yeah, screw customers having some idea of what's coming up so they can make any kind of informed decision to buy now or wait on new products. That's just rude!

What utter nonsense.

No-one is holding a gun to peoples' heads on the day of release of a hitherto unknown product, and forcing them to buy it.

{edit: I realise that I've completely mis-read what you wrote. However, that doesn't alter the fact that just because lots of companies choose to pre-announce stuff doesn't mean that every company should. Apple choose not to, and that's their privilege}

The argument that 'because part of the supply chain earns less, they can do whatever the hell they want' is just plain and simple trolling. I earn less than the CTO of our parent organisation. Does that mean that I can flout the rules and disrupt business of the parent company?No, it fucking doesn't. What a stupid argument.

Yeah, screw customers having some idea of what's coming up so they can make any kind of informed decision to buy now or wait on new products. That's just rude!

What are you talking about? No one is forcing anyone to buy anything on the day it's announced. The vast majority wait until it's announced, wait days, weeks, or months and eventually buy or don't buy. The point is announce and make it available same day or shortly after for those who want to purchase ASAP.

Why do they not release new OSs to stores a week early? Everybody already knows what's going to be in them via developers using them and Apple's own feature page. We knew about the features of iOS 6 in July.

1. Apple products are highly coveted and are scruntinized by competitors and even detractors. - Competitors wish to forestall Apple's competitive advantage. - Detractors wish to diminish the public's perception of the product.2. Journalists are often eager to be the first to report on an Apple-related leak which can drive them to seek potential informants.3. Consumer anticipation can be nurtured through controlled leaks (smart marketing) or uncontrolled leaks (lost device or loose supply chain lips)

Products that don't possess healthy doses of the above factors will not experience much leak traction.

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Re: Product announcement timing- there are several co-existing philosophies.

Companies like Symantec don't announce products too far in advance (partially) due to concerns that vulnerabilities may beat the product to market.

Cisco, on the other hand, announces products far in advance so that developers and business partners can plan effectively.

2. Journalists are often eager to be the first to report on an Apple-related leak which can drive them to seek potential informants.

Although that can have drawbacks if they go too far. Gizmodo seems to be on Apple's permanent Shit List as a result of Gizmodo accepting stolen goods (the iPhone 4 prototype lost in the bar).

It can also result in the product actually being cancelled, as allegedly happened with Project Asteroid (which was supposed to be some sort of iPod speaker dock, as I recall). Steve Jobs supposedly cancelled the product the day before it was due to be announced as a result of it being leaked by Think Secret.

Whatever the reason, they have legitmately killed my interest in Apple's announcements.

I'm not sure if you mean the same thing, but I read this and think the "iPhone 4S effect." Before that device was released, it was widely speculated that the new device--assumed to be the iPhone 5--would bring a significant upgrade in both software and hardware, at least matching--and perhaps exceeding!--the then-current Android flagships.

The reality was that the 4S was very much a minor, incremental upgrade, lacking almost all of the rumored features (no larger screen, no new dock connector, no NFC, no LTE, etc.). Absent the hype and "leaks" (real or otherwise), it would've been a respectable mid-life update. Now, rather than being entirely about excitement, Apple's announcements are more about which rumored features aren't in the new product, and I think that's unfortunate.

That isn't quite what I meant, though it's a good point. My point was that unlike for the iPhone 4S, the last few leaks have been pretty spot on and have basically led to boring events.

This is one of the consequences of outsourcing your manufacturing, loss of control. If you want total control, gotta do it yourself. Of course, there are other benefits and drawbacks to doing it yourself. Looks like Apple wants to heave its cake and eat it too.

The other consideration I think Apple needs to make is the diminishing returns of more control and secrecy. Giving only 12 hours before public release to test a new version of an OS, limiting real world test of next generation phones (this is probably why the fiasco with the iPhone 4 antenna happened)?

I suppose for consumers, when we get accurate leaks, it's good for us. We get a better more objective assessment of whether it's truly worth an upgrade. I guess Apple just doesn't like that - blind fanboys and impulse purchases are profitable after all.

I think Apple needs to come to terms with the idea that leaks are inevitable in a company this size, especially seeing as they have not done themselves any favors by outsourcing and that their clamping down on their North American operations may be counterproductive.

They have no vested interest in protecting leaks on the manufacturing floor; plain and simple. A great way that I know to mitigate that is for Apple to go to Foxconn and other manufacturing facilities to promote and educate the facilities workers on why they don't want images to be leaked and by backing it up by their money where there mouth is. Perhaps if the workers agree to store their cameras and phones in a lockbox when they're working over a set period of time; Apple could provide a juicy bonus to them. (whatever that is in Yuan anyways.)

Whatever the reason, they have legitmately killed my interest in Apple's announcements.

I'm not sure if you mean the same thing, but I read this and think the "iPhone 4S effect." Before that device was released, it was widely speculated that the new device--assumed to be the iPhone 5--would bring a significant upgrade in both software and hardware, at least matching--and perhaps exceeding!--the then-current Android flagships.

The reality was that the 4S was very much a minor, incremental upgrade, lacking almost all of the rumored features (no larger screen, no new dock connector, no NFC, no LTE, etc.). Absent the hype and "leaks" (real or otherwise), it would've been a respectable mid-life update. Now, rather than being entirely about excitement, Apple's announcements are more about which rumored features aren't in the new product, and I think that's unfortunate.

That isn't quite what I meant, though it's a good point. My point was that unlike for the iPhone 4S, the last few leaks have been pretty spot on and have basically led to boring events.

itsbenaltogether has a point.

I now avoid anything that looks like a leak to prevent the diminishment of my enjoyment of the product announcement.

Just as we shun those who spoil movies, I sidestep the work of tech spoilers.

Post launch, however, I go back to seek a tally of how accurate the leaks were. For the iPhone 5 the leaks were technically spot-on, but failed to come close to suggesting the beauty of the finished product.

If you have X dollars to spend on bribes, payoffs, tips, penetration experts etc - where are you likely to spend them to get information: US or China? Given the disparity in pay, working conditions etc the answer is patently obvious.

No, getting paid less doesn't release you from your loyalty as an employee, to keep stuff secret. But when you are working 10-12 hours a day in a huge factory, assembling widgets not because you particularly like to, or because you are well paid... then the feeling of loyalty naturally decreases, no-one should be surprised by that.

If you want to keep something secret, don't outsource it to low-cost sweatshops, Chinese or otherwise. How hard is that to understand? Oh, it might cost more to keep final assembly in the US, so then you have to choose which is more important - profit or secrecy. Can't have both.

The argument that 'because part of the supply chain earns less, they can do whatever the hell they want' is just plain and simple trolling. I earn less than the CTO of our parent organisation. Does that mean that I can flout the rules and disrupt business of the parent company?No, it fucking doesn't. What a stupid argument.

Not really a fair comparison. I'm assuming that your salary is still decent, and not the kind of slave wage those Chinese employees are getting? Those few thousand dollars you could get from selling confidential info might not be worth it to you, but to these people it could be their big break.

I'm finding it real hard to have any sympathy for those Apple engineers. Sounds to me like a classic example of wanting the cake and eating it too. If secrecy is so important to Apple then they should bring back their manufacturing to the US.

Leaks are now so plentiful that it's hard to be too surprised when Apple shows us something new.

And yet people still post hundreds of comments on anything Apple related upto and post product release. And they line up for days (sometimes) to get their own copy of the next release.

Quote:

"One of the great things about Apple secrecy is presenting something to the world, and then someone goes and ruins the fun for everyone," an employee told Ars. "It's really fucking rude to everyone who's worked so hard on it."

Well - they could announce their product to the world prior to sending it to Foxconn (and include a 4-6 month product delivery time). There are ways to do it - they can change and adapt to the new eco-system.

"Clearly, the people who need the security training are not here" said another. "They're not getting the same level of scrutiny as we are, and it shows."

As far as this goes - where is the incentive for the CHinese workers assembling the devices to not leak somehting ? They're getting paid what $1.50 an hour to slap a $600 (retail) phone together. When they start getting paid in the same ballaprk as a Detroit auto-worker - things might "tighten up".

But on the same note - it's also sad that Media sources feel a need to jump onto the rumor and leak band-wagon just to make a buck and generate readership.